Get unlimited digital access $14.99 A MONTH

Need for improvements to Bellerose Village's business district and infrastructure top the list of priorities among the three trustee candidates running in the March 18 village elections.

The three candidates -- two incumbents and a former mayor -- are competing for two, two-year seats on the five-member village board.

Incumbent Margaret Hagan is running for re-election on the People's Party line, and incumbent Kenneth Moore on the Village Green Party line. Former Mayor Donna Sherrer is running on the Community Party line.

Hagan, 56, a program manager for U.S. Customs & Border Protection, was first elected to the board in 2008 and is running for a fourth term. She has been a village resident for 27 years, serves as a commissioner of the Bellerose traffic authority and is a member of the Bellerose Village Code Revision Committee.

She said she spearheaded the village's residential rehabilitation program paid through a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Block Grant Development program. The program offers residents a chance to get repairs done to their homes.

"We're a very small and old village," Hagan said, adding the community of 1,200 people has a budget of about $1.25 million. "Every little bit helps."

Moore, 52, an organizer for Sheet Metal Workers Union International, is running for his third term as trustee and has been a village volunteer firefighter for nine years. He has lived in Bellerose for 20 years. Moore said he wants to beautify the village by planting new trees, and repairing sidewalks and streets. He also wants to focus on attracting new businesses to the business corridor on Jericho Turnpike and improving storefront facades.

"Businesses have been empty in the last four years and we want all the properties rented out," Moore said.

Sherrer, 57, who was mayor from 2005 to 2011, has lived in the village for 33 years and was a member of the village's Board of Architectural Review for 12 years. She said she would like to create a plan to improve village roads and curbs. She also wants to work with the business district to foster economic growth.

During her tenure as mayor, Sherrer said she led campaigns against the Long Island Rail Road's third-track project, which would have put a third track between Floral Park and Hicksville on the Main Line. She said she secured the preservation of the village hall, firehouse and police booth in 2006. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

"Preserving these classic structures protects the character of our village, home values and may have been responsible for the LIRR's announcement that the third track would not impact Bellerose Village," Sherrer said.